For Banksy’s 4th time in the ring, I perhaps unwisely picked a gigantic dog show up in Santa Rosa, the Bayteam 3 day winter extravaganza. This is a lot of dog show packed into one big covered arena with only 2 rings, which makes for 12 or so hour days. A lot of dogs, a lot of barking, a lot of everything. Otterpop didn’t really approve. A lot of sitting in the car for Team Small Dog. Because, of course everybody gets to come.

It’s on a big fairgrounds, so lots of room to walk, and it wasn’t raining. Ruby loved trotting around and sniffing for treats. But still. A lot going on, which is mind blowing for Banksy. Besides dogs everywhere, it was her first time in a Motel 6. We have a relationship with this Motel 6. Located just a few blocks from a popular indian casino, it’s also across the parking lot from Starbucks. Coffee within 1 minute is an essential. And super cheap. Another essential. This makes it popular for me, but also for hookers and drug dealers. Many exciting times here like the time I had the adjoining room with a crack smoking workin’ lady, and the time the cops showed up to bust somebody next door late at night. So not a motel that guarantees sleep. Sometimes they give you a free room if the crack smoke keeps you up all night, though.

It’s the fancy upgraded kind, with Pergo floors. Off brand pergo. Cheap laminate the maids can just hose down. If they clean. Not sure if they clean Motel 6? I bring my own sheets. Banksy took one look in the door and had a major panic attack. The Pergo! Either they were too slidey or she was sure I was bringing her to a late night vet’s office for surgery without anesthesia. I had little dogs running all over the place, in and out of the room, who were all, “MOTEL! MOTEL!” because motels, even the 6 kind, their best thing EVER. They love sleeping over at trials. They may have just had 12 hours in the car, but now it was what they’d been waiting for all day. MOTEL!

Banksy was more, “WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE” and did everything she could to slip her leash and bolt. Which she didn’t. But was her plan. I went into guerilla survival mode, somehow gathering up little dogs running around in the room with the wide open door, running out, running in, jumping on beds, and Banksy, who was trying to make her way back to anywhere else but Motel 6, and getting small dogs inside, and then figuring out how to get her in.

I was a little afraid to just pick her up. She looked volatile. I grabbed a slip leash out of the car, snared her, and drug her in and up on the bed. Just like catching a dingo in the wild! On the bed she stayed without touching the floor all night. By morning, it was cool. She got to meet a couple very nice prostitutes who love dogs, and an extremely large man dressed up in Christmas lights who were hanging out just outside my room for a few hours in the middle of the night. Viva la leopard print, still in for the holiday season!

I only ran Banksy in Starters Standard, hoping to get the 2 Standard Qs she needed to move up to Advanced. She got 1 with a really beautiful run. She popped out the last pole in the other and I didn’t put her back in, just didn’t want to do that on what had already been a flawless run with a beautiful dogwalk. We didn’t do much in Starters because we were running Team!

Team was, exciting. A little scary. I ran with two very good friends with their awesome and fast 26″ dogs. Banksy in relay was frightening, and I think we won’t do team again until I can improve her behavior. I don’t think we’ll ever run team with anyone other than good friends. I can’t leave her in a down off her leash when another dog is running, she goes scary nuts. On a good day. In the dark, at the end of a very long day, yikes. So there was some freakout when Carlos ran his dog, he gave me the baton, and as soon as his dog was in a lie down, she snapped to attention and ran. Fast! She smoked her section of the relay, and ran right to her leash when I handed off the baton to Rob. She didn’t much notice his dog running because she was in that all wound up, just finished running tugging mania. Rob’s dog went off course though, so that E in relay put us just out of Qing range.

Not Rob’s fault though! Banksy had 2 awesome team runs, winning team jumpers and a beautiful gamblers, but it was us who E’d in standard with one big shit storm of a run, and I had a snooker disaster with very low points.

She did win Grand Prix and get a bye for Regionals! That was exciting! Her dogwalks have been pretty crummy practicing lately, and she only missed 1 the entire weekend. A very pleasant surprise! There were a couple hard threadly exits in there, too. I did muck up her Steeplechase run by pulling way off the a-frame for a turn, and she missed her a-frame. Which she rarely does, but now I know, she can! Her hit’s high on the a-frame. And apparently breakable, just like everything else.

Gustavo just ran Steeplechase and Grand Prix. With actually gorgeous runs, minus weave poles. Weave poles usually take a few times in the ring until he settles down to do them, and this he is not getting. So he may run weave pole-less this year. It’s cool. Gustavo had a good time and if he needs to not do the poles to do so, I got his back.

On a couple runs, Banksy invented a new thing called bite my clothes. When I am inside of them. Started when she couldn’t find her leash at the end, and grabbed my sleeve. She is one of those manic get the leash and tug on it like a beast dogs. Then finished when we had that shit storm of Team Standard and she bit my pants at handling mistake 24, at only obstacle 14. That was awful. She was basically, I hate you and your bad handling and threw the crayons and cookies all over the kindergarden room while screaming obsenities at the top of her lungs. When you’re a dog, that’s pants biting. And she’s good at inventing things that stick forever, so next time it started to happen I pulled her into a heel and we heeled out of the ring. Goodbye, Team Snooker. But no more clothes biting.

Border collies are, wow. Just wow. I am lucky to have lots of friends to tell me things like, how to patch up your best pants. We will patch ’em up today. We are glad to be home. We have about 150 things to work on before our next trial. Make that 450. We will start now.